Kevin Kouzmanoff endeared himself to Eric Chavez and A's fans everywhere with his banter with Giants fans tonight. A loud fan remarked that Chavy seemed less than good and Kouz said something back to the effect of "He got a hit last inning; when was the last time you got a hit?"
Pretty awesome.
Chavez did indeed get a hit tonight; he also took a ball fairly deep into cavernous AT&T Park.
Kouzmanoff himself would collect the A's only RBI; his double (out in any other ballpark) knocked in Eric Chavez (who scored standing up, don't worry!) in the fourth for the early 1-0 lead. Rosales, Davis, and Fox (who didn't take a single pitch tonight) had the rest of the A's five hits. Par for the A's offense.
But the real story of the game was Brett Anderson, who pitched five gorgeous innings, allowing just three hits and zero walks, while striking out four. Had he pitched the entire game, the one run might have been enough. His slider off the plate looked simply filthy tonight. Unfortunately, after Edwar Ramirez pitched a perfect sixth (with help from a great catch by Pennington), Gaudin and Kilby combined for the tie and the loss in the seventh and eighth.
Chad Gaudin was definitely not the 'relief' the A's are looking for in what no doubt will be a plethora of close games this season. He gave up a single and a double to tie the game in the seventh, and then uncorked a wild pitch. Strangely enough, Juan Uribe tried to take both third AND home on the pitch, and Gaudin, for reasons unknown, simply didn't think about covering the plate. Powell chased after the ball and dove for the plate (shades of Jason Kendall) to make the tag to preserve the tie. He also got a pretty good cleat shot in there too (see picture).
And is there anyone out there who can make the team instead of Brad Kilby? Walking the leadoff man is never a good strategy; it usually comes back to haunt you. And it did; the Giants plated the run and the game was all but over. The A's went down weakly 1, 2, 3 in the ninth to ensure the loss.
We do it all again tomorrow afternoon as the A's play their last exhibition game, which means the SEASON IS STARTING!
Have a great Friday night!